February Photos

Monday, February 24, 2025

Journal: Every Nanosecond Counts

 


Last Tuesday around noon, I was listening to the Rural Radio announcer giving the weather report:  “The weatherman let our extreme cold warning expire at noon,” he said, “and Mother Nature played along:  It was 5 below; now it’s only 4 below!”

The ‘feel-like’ temperature was 14 below.  Brrrr.  I put on multiple sweaters, leggings, multiple socks, a scarf, and my fingerless gloves, and then I had one of the Stroopwafels that Caleb and Maria gave us for Christmas.

I had never heard of such a thing before.  A Stroopwafel is a thin, round cookie made from two layers of sweet baked dough held together by syrup filling.  The traditional way to eat a Stroopwafel is to place it on top of a hot cup of coffee or tea for a couple of minutes, warming it up on the rim of your mug and allowing the heat to soften the caramel filling inside, making it gooey and delicious before eating it.

By 3:00 p.m., the temperature had risen to -2°, but the windchill had sunk to -24°.  I was quilting away, and comfortable in my studio so long as I kept the big EdenPURE heater going.

We had chicken and corn on the cob for supper that night, cooked in the Instant Pot.  I wrap the corn on the cob in aluminum foil so it doesn’t taste ‘chickeny’.  😜

I made a pot of fresh coffee about suppertime, half Peet’s French Roast, and half Creme Brulée (flavored beans).  I very rarely add flavored cream or syrup to my coffee.  Only sometimes, for a special treat (whereupon I generally decide it’s better black).  Larry’s always pleased when he comes home on these cold, cold days to find a fresh, hot pot of coffee.



Speaking of ‘chickeny’, I once had a plate at Texas Roadhouse that had both chicken and shrimp, along with green beans and mashed potatoes.  They’d cooked the meats together on the cast iron skillet-plate that they served the meal on, with the plate presented on a wooden riser.  The chicken tasted shrimpy, and the shrimp tasted chickeny.  😝  And they hadn’t drained the grease.  😛  Then they ker-plopped the mashed potatoes and green beans onto the greasy plate.  Yuck.  I have a few cents left on a gift card someone gave us for Texas Roadhouse, but I’m a little leery about using it, because...  grease!  😛😜😝😖

When I stopped quilting that night, the second row of the Mane Event was allllmost done.  The frame isn’t quite wide enough to entirely quilt one of these horse pictures and all the sashing around it; I have to roll the quilt forward to complete it.  

At times like these, I sometimes wish I had a wider frame; but the thing is, when I’m working from the front and doing custom quilting at the far bar, I already have to stand on tiptoes.  What would I do with a bigger machine and frame?  Stand on a stepstool??!  Heh!  I’m 5’2”, and it doesn’t look like I’ll grow taller anytime soon.



If it continued to take six or seven hours of quilting to finish one row, it would take at least five more days of quilting before I was done.

It was very cold during the night, and only warmed up to -3° by noon Wednesday.  The windchill was -12°.  I dressed in the usual layers, and quilted until time for our midweek church service that evening.  I always have high hopes of coming home, eating a quick supper, and then getting back to the quilting; but if we dawdle over that ‘quick supper’, I wind up retiring to my recliner instead.  😏

During the night, the temperature dropped to -17°, and there was a windchill of -28°.  That was a few degrees warmer than it had been the previous night.  By noon Thursday, it had gotten up to 3°.  It was bright and sunny, and with a wind of only 5 mph, it actually felt like 16°.  I bundled up and went out to fill the bird feeders.  Some of them collect snow in the bottom trays and then freeze, and the birds can’t get to the seeds.  One of the new feeders had a frozen slide-button on top, and I couldn’t get it open.  I brought it indoors to thaw.

Poor little birds; I figure they need all the proteins and fats they can get, in such weather.  Even the hardy dark-eyed juncos turn themselves into little puffballs of feathers when it’s that cold, anytime they pause in the search for seeds.  



I’m pretty sure the male house finch here is asking the junco, “Been dinin’ here long?”



Larry brought in the mail that evening (our mailbox is over on Old Highway 81) – and I had a letter from the IRS stating that I’ve been issued an Employer Identification Number (EIN) as requested.  After reading letters from the IRS, I feel pretty much like a kindergartner trying to read a college calculus book. 



Friday, I almost finished the middle row of the ‘Mane Event’ by suppertime.  We had Bear Creek chicken noodle soup, with cherry crumb pie for dessert.  Larry brought home Breyer’s Extra Creamy Vanilla ice cream to go on it, and extra creamy Cool Whip, too.



I discovered after the soup was bubbling away on the stove that I’d forgotten to get crackers in my last grocery order, so we had 12-grain Nature Crafted toast with our soup instead.

Saturday, February 22, was our oldest son Keith’s 45th birthday that day.  We sent him a lined flannel shirt with a hood.  



Today, the 24th, is our youngest child Victoria’s 28th birthday.  (There are 7 children in between those two.)  I don’t understand how this can be, when I’m only 39 myself!

Keith texted to thank us for the shirt:  It fits perfectly, and I love the color design a lot!”

“You’re welcome!” I replied.  “Daddy chose the colors – and it was about as hard to get him to choose that as it was to get him to pick which name on my list he liked best for your name, before you were born!”

Before each of our babies was born, I’d write a list of baby names in the order I liked them best, then show it to Larry, wanting him to choose his favorites.  He invariably agreed with my list, right down the line.  So one day I decided to find out if he really agreed with me, or if he didn’t have an opinion at all, or if he was just being agreeable.



I wrote a list of names I did not like.  Nothing really absurd, as that would clue him in.  Just names I didn’t really like.

I handed it over.

He looked at it.

Read it.

Reread it.

One more time...

And then...

“Do you have any other names you like?” he asked.

Ah-ha!  I’d found out we did agree on names!



Larry started the washing machine Saturday morning – right while I was taking a shower.  Aarrgghhh!  That’s cruel and unusual punishment, as it makes the temperature of the water vacillate from too hot to too cold.  I’ll get even!  Just see if I don’t.

That afternoon, I passed the middle row of the ‘Mane Event’ quilt and started on row #5.  There are 7 rows.  I’d thought it might take ’til the end of the week to finish quilting it, but maybe not, as I was making better time than expected.

But I quit quilting sooner than intended that night, only getting in six hours of quilting rather than the eight I’d wanted to do, because my back was complaining.  Ah, well; I ran out of navy thread, and the blue thread I’d just gotten from Red Rock Threads didn’t match, and black didn’t look right either.  I ordered more navy thread.

I have 49 ½ hours of quilting in the ‘Mane Event’ so far.

One time some years ago, I posted a screenshot of an Excel spreadsheet showing hours spent on a quilt I’d just finished.  It listed hours of cutting, piecing, quilting, putting on binding, etc.  A fellow quilter on a big online quilt group demanded to know how I could be exactly precise about all those hours.  “Don’t you ever have to take a bathroom break?” she asked.  “Do you subtract the time it takes to warm up your coffee?  What if you take pictures from the window?  Do you never exaggerate your hours?”

What was she, a gumshoe from the QPHQ (Quilt Police Headquarters)?

I considered ignoring such rudeness, but an answer had already popped into my head, and I just had to respond.  I told her I had a trained monkey who stood at the ready, beady little eyes fastened on me, time card in hand, prepared to swipe it through the time clock every time I paused, and every time I got back to work.  So if I said something took me 4 hours, it was accurate to the nanosecond.

She was not amused.

Well, I was not amused with her; so we were even, right?  Right?!



I’m not stealing unearned money from some hapless employer on account of fabricated hours, so I wonder what in the world got her dander up?

We gave Victoria her gifts after church last night:  a teal blue fleece robe, and a tri-fold gold picture frame.

At noon today it was 55° with a feel-like temperature of – get this! – 66°!  The high was 63°.  That’s a far cry from last Monday afternoon’s -4° and windchill of -33°.  It was so nice, I opened a couple of windows while I did the laundry and cleaned the kitchen and bathroom.



The navy thread arrived, along with fabric from Marshall Dry Goods, including another yard of backing for Levi’s ‘Heaven & Nature Sing’ quilt.  I also got a letter from my lawyer which contained the papers necessary to make an estate account at Loren’s bank.

Meanwhile, two good friends have asked me to do quilting for them, and will be needing them done soon, as they are both for fast-approaching birthdays.  I’d better get in gear!

The last load of laundry is put away.  Larry had to go to town for something, and offered to pick up some Mexican food.  I never turn down Mexican food!

He brought back an enchilada dinner, a nacho dinner, and burritos.  We shared the food, then put so many leftovers in the refrigerator, we’ll be eating Mexican food for days.

I just removed a key on my laptop keyboard in order to get some lint out from under it – and then had a dreadful time trying to get it back in, with its tiny little two-part plastic hinge set on the back that has to hook onto tiny metal prongs on the keyboard.  After my first attempt failed, I watched a YouTube video to see exactly how everything fit together.  Then, using a magnifying glass while Larry held a bright LED flashlight, I carefully fitted the hinges together, clicked it into place, and pressed the key down.  Two more little clicks, and everything was where it was supposed to be, and the key is working perfectly.  Whew.



I’ve removed keys on other laptops and keyboards to get little crumbs or pieces of lint out before, but this key-hinge setup is different from any others I’ve had (much nicer, really).  Thankfully, the YouTube video showed the process very well.  I’m so glad I didn’t break those tiny pieces!

I end this missive with a short quote from a news anchor at Sky News Australia:  “And now let’s hear from the lunatic asylum that identifies as MSNBC.  Yes, let’s give a little listen to those with room-temperature IQs.”  hee hee

To the quilting machine I go!



,,,>^..^<,,,          Sarah Lynn          ,,,>^..^<,,,




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